Literary Saloon on the Farouk Hosni debate

The Literary Saloon does a great job taking to task Mahfouz translator Robert Stock over his piece on Egyptian Culture Minister and would-be head of UNESCO Farouk Hosni.

Instead of introducing examples of this [anti-Zionist] intelligentsia, Stock is happy to instead toss out generalizations such as:

This whole imbroglio only serves to highlight the Egyptian literati's generally hateful and hidebound views of Israel, which are often more virulent than those of the Egyptian public at large.

Examples ?
One example, please ?
I don't doubt that examples galore could be dug up (after all, examples of every opinion under the sun are readily found) -- but, hey, how about digging up at least one to appease me? (And surely it's telling that he doesn't: is there any name he could come up with that any of us would recognize -- Gamal al-Ghitani? Sonallah Ibrahim? [the writers I'd consider among the cream of Egyptian literati and intelligentsia] even Alaa al-Aswany ? Somehow I suspect these guys haven't been spouting "hateful and hidebound views" -- so who has? By which I mean: who has who can in any way be taken seriously, as al-Ghitani and Ibrahim and even al-Aswany can.)

Egypt: Belal Fadl's Essays reviewed by Baheyya

A thoughtful review by Egyptian blogger Baheyya gives an intricate context for the new collection of essays by screenwriter and al-Destour editor (read more about those aspects of his career in this Egypt Today article) Belal Fadl. Baheyya describes his new collection as "irresistibly named" and she's right -- I'd definitely pick up a book called The Original Inhabitants of Egypt: Stories about the Genius of the Place, the Idiocy of the Rulers, and the Indifference of the People if it were ever to appear in translation. "Original Inhabitants," Baheyya explains, are

Egyptians who are neither rich nor middle class, but somewhere in the vast space beneath, what we alternately call lower-middle class, lower class, underclass, the marginalized, or the horrid “simple folk” (البسطاء).

But, as she goes on to elucidate, Fadl has made his career out of peddling stereotypes of these ordinary Egyptians in films and TV -- and he does so in many of the essays. As Baheyya avers, this seems a shame because -- from her account, at least -- the book appears to open up a view of Egypt's proletariat (to use a word coined by another great essayist), at once traditional and modernising, that translations of Alaa al-Aswany's novels have only begun to broach for non-Arabic readers.

Baheyya has thoughtful reviews of two other works of non-fiction that cast a light: Karima a-Hifnawy's Diary of a Pharmacist (review), a memoir by an outstanding activist who -- like her better-known contemporary Nawal al-Saadawi -- combines medicine, human rights and an assured literary tone, and novelist Galal Amin's What Has Life Taught Me (review). The blogger may claim that

Autobiography is my least favourite literary genre, too easily prone to posturing and self-exoneration, or else heavy woe-is-me tales about the author’s suffering at the hands of a cruel world. Life is already too full of braggarts and whiners to have to be subjected to them in books

but her reviews suggest that -- above and beyond the pitiful rate of fiction in translation (see ThreePercenter Chad Post's most recent round-up and sharp analysis of US stats at Publishing Perspectives -- we're missing out if memoirs, essays and autobiographies aren't crossing languages and cultures as well.

New Writing from Yemen and Upper Egypt

Yemeni Observer reports on a panel discussion about new Yemeni literature, including writers Ali al-Muqri; topics of discussion included the impact of globalisation on Yemen. In the Saudi Gazette, Susannah Tarbush has a review of Tales from Dayrut by Mohamad Mustagab, revealing for the first time in English

the strange, distinctive world of rural Upper Egypt with its poverty, superstition, vendettas, honor killings, rumors and folklore.

She also has an update on the 'Arabic Booker' (free excerpts in English with The National!) on her blog.

Cairo Book Fair -- or Cairo Blook Fair?

Marwa Rakha at Global Voices highlights a trend at the Cairo Book Fair, quoting a post from blogger Mohamed Hamdy highlighting the 15+ titles by bloggers available at the Fair, supported by CBF's first-ever seminar to discuss the growing phenomenon of bloggers getting published. The seminar is organized by the renowned writer Youssef Al Ka'eed and bloggers Ghada Abdel Aal, Shady Aslan, and Mayada Medhat. This is definitely a particularly Egyptian phenomenon, of bloggers publishing *novels* based on blogs, as opposed to essayistic or memoiristic texts...

__Updated 28/01/09__

Marwa Rakha posts more news: traditional writers have called these Egyptian blooks "Kleenex" (because they see them as over-intimate and disposable, I guess). Blogger Ahmed Al Sabbagh hits back with a link to Ghada Abdel Aal's video, where she quotes Tawfiq El-Hakim describing the essence of real literature:

It is the open air literature; the literary expression of freedom and passion; words that reach out from one heart to another exposing the depth of the human psyche in freedom, honesty, and sincerity. Tawfiq El-Hakim also said that our share of such kind of literature is minimal just as much as our share of honesty and openness is minimal - This is exactly what we as bloggers do.

Translation, Transliteration, Treason?

We're back, and the year begins with exciting news. The Literary Saloon's sleuthwork uncovered the winner of the 2008 Naguib Mahfouz medal: it's Hamdi Abu Galil -- at least according to Al-Ahram Weekly. Other sources spell the author's name in other ways. The Salooner comments:

We've often complained about the lack of uniform transliteration of author-names from the Korean, but this is pretty bad too. Come on ! -- just settle on one spelling and stick to it! Please!

.

Abu Galil's success is reported in an interesting and considered round-up of Egypt's year in literature in 2008, covering obituaries, prizes, censorship, and litigation, including the controversy around Arabic Booker-nominated Azazel. The article portrays a vibrant literary culture, which was also in evidence at the Egyptian Writers' Union meeting last week, where translation was on the agenda. Mohamed Salmawy, head of the Egyptian Writers’ Union, said in his opening speech that, “Without translation, there is no dialogue between cultures.”

Each prizewinner honoured by the conference expressed a different concern about translationadn publishing in general. Bahaa Taher, a prizewinner for his “Hob fel Manfa” (Love in Exile), said that: “I wish the number of translations were smaller in quantity but greater in quality," while journalist and novelist Gamal Al-Ghitany pointed to the effective censorship produced by the recent shutdown of The Center for Eastern and Arabic Tendencies (“Ma’ahad Al-Asteshraq wal-Earab”) and by what he called "literary terrorism" practiced by law courts against writers by means of large monetary fines. Mohamed Afifi Mattar raised the pertinent question of translation as intercultural dialogue.

In their eyes, we are the world of Arabian Nights, we are a quirky tale of folklore. Europe translates its own image of us. I wish that the ones who translate our literature are our own people and our writers and not those barbarians.

It's timely, then, that Kanishk Tharoor, writing in The Nation, reviews Abdelfattah Kilito's Thou Shall Not Speak My Language: a history of translation from Arabic, recently translated into English by Waïl S. Hassan. It's an essay well worth reading, touching as it does on the unbroken history of written Arabic literature, the difference in translation non-fiction, fiction and poetry, the colonial context for contemporary translation from Arabic, and the particularities of Kilito's situation in Rabat.

Updated:

From Literary Saloon, a few days later: a plea for an international council on Arabic transliteration. Not sure how serious this is (given the colonialist implications), but as LS points out it is pragmatic. In the age of Google spelling is a person's USP. And it does seem a little unreasonable that Mohamed El-Bisatie's name is spelled in three different variants on the Arab Booker's shortlist page.

Speaking Freely: 60th Anniversary of the UNHCR

It's the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this week, which is being marked by many celebrations -- and, in the blogosphere and media, a number of astute calls to recognise that the Declaration's work is far from done.

As ever, there are also stories that mark the challenges to, and successes of, one of Roosevelt's "four freedoms" enshrined in the UDHR, that of "freedom of speech." Rex Bloomstein's documentary "True Stories: An Independent Mind" screens on More4 on Tuesday 9, the eve of the anniversary (you can watch it online on a PC from Wednesday morning onwards). Bloomstein's interviewees include Burmese comedians the Moustache Brothers, Chinese sex blogger Mu Zimei and Syrian poet Faraj Bayrakdar, all of whom have been persecuted for expressing their opinions and who engage with Bloomstein in a lively and inspiring conversation about what we are permitted to say, how, and by whom.

In the Egyptian blogosphere, an equally lively conversation tackles the topic from a different angle, as Wikipedia have just launched a version of the site in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic. The site has raised both hopes and hackles: Global Voices has a translation of the debate about local and national identity vs. the region's mutual linguistic heritage, about what counts as 'correct' usage, and how languages evolve despite, rather than because of, imposed rules. As it often does, the blogosphere provides space for a debate about the freedom of speech -- and for realisations as to how that space is limited by technology, access, censorship and political will.

Victory for Freedom of Expression in Egypt: Ibrahim Essa wins 2008 Gebran Tueni award

Ibrahim Essa, Editor-in-Chief of Al Dustour, the daily newspaper in Egypt, has been awarded the 2008 Gebran Tueni Award, the annual prize of the World Association of Newspapers that honours an editor or publisher in the Arab region.

The prize is made in memory of Gebran Tueni, the Lebanese publisher who was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in December 2005, a unique figure in WAN affairs for almost 20 years, as a leading member of its Press Freedom Committee, a Board member for more than a decade, a regular participant in missions to press freedom "hot spots" and a constant advisor and support to the leadership of the organisation on Arab and press freedom issues. WAN and the Tueni family created the award to encourage other courageous and independent publishers, editors and newspapers in the Arab world.

The inaugural Gebran Tueni Award, presented in 2006, was made to Nadia al-Saqqaf, Editor-in-chief of the Yemen Times. Last year's prize went to Michel Hajji Georgiou, a senior political analyst at the French-language daily L'Orient-Le Jour in Lebanon. The award carries a 10,000 Euros scholarship to enable Mr Essa to undertake advanced newspaper leadership training.

Mr Essa will receive the award during the 3rd Arab Free Press Forum, to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, next week, which will explore how the independent Arab press defies restrictive governments.

The 2008 award recognises Mr Essa's commitment to freedom of the press, his courage, leadership, ambition and high managerial and professional standards. Mr Essa said, "the award gives a kiss of life to writers in Arab countries, where the press is suffocated," he said.

Al Dustour, founded in 1995, was closed by the Egyptian authorities from 1998 to 2005 after it published a letter from the militant group Gamaa Islamiya. Its circulation has grown from 50,000 when it resumed publishing, to 120,000 today, in large part because of Mr Essa's leadership. About 30 journalists work for Al Dustour. Most of them are young and committed to independent journalism.

Mr Essa remains determined to provide professional and quality coverage of events, despite censorship, indictments and court cases. He was sentenced to two months in prison in September 2008 for "propagating false news and rumours causing a general security disturbance and harming the public interest" in connection with articles concerning the health of President Mubarak. He was pardoned by the President in October.

Mr Essa is currently appealing another conviction and is free on bail pending the outcome. In September 2007, Mr Essa, along with Adel Hammouda of the weekly al-Fagr, Wael al-Abrashi of the weekly Soat al-Ommah, and Abdel Halim Kandeel of the weekly al-Karama, each received one-year jail sentences for "defaming the president".

Mr Essa and Al Dustour journalist Sahar Zaki had earlier been sentenced to a year in prison for "insulting the president" and "spreading false rumours" for their April 2005 coverage of a legal case against President Mubarak. The prison sentence was dismissed on appeal in February 2007 and the two were fined 22,500 Egyptian Pounds (3,200 Euros).

Reading Egypt

The Guardian's Book Blog are travelling around the world via literature, and it's Egypt's turn. Post your suggestions and thoughts here. You can add new discoveries to the Atlas here.

[Updated 2 Dec]

the tanjara posts about the Guardian's literary tourism (aren't we loving the photo of the very contemporary Pyramids?) with some pertinent observations and questions about how the Guardian's tour functions:

So far, the blog entry on Egypt has attracted only 17 comments (some of which weren't on Egyptian literature, but suggested a next stop on the 'tour'), much fewer than the 45 for Portugal, the previous stop, Nigeria (42), Australia (116 comments), Ireland (213). Of course it's not really appropiate to compare interest, as indicated by comments, in relatively newly available Egyptian fiction with that in literature from Anglophone countries.
Egypt was chosen as a destination by readers of the blog, but there was a miniscule number of votes. It got 2 votes, tied with the same number for a combined destination of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. As Egypt had been shortlisted a few times previously it was the final choice. Surely Moroccan literature (including poetry) is 'present' enough to merit inclusion in its own right rather than only as part of a general Maghreb entry. Or, if one insists on a general North African entry, why not expand to include Libya

So there's lots of space to make your opinion heard (unusual on a Guardian blog!) and put the names of classics and exciting new novels out there... Great to see Bahaa Taher getting attention alongside Naguib Mahfouz, and also Khalid al-Khamissy.

If you're lucky enough to be in Cairo, Kamal Rohaym is reading from his novel "Ayam al-shataat" on Wednesday 8th December at the last Sphinx Agency salon of the year. Rohaym won a prize for the first novel, "Quloub munhaka" (The Muslim Jew), which is being translating into German at the moment. The next big thing?!